Everything You Want
by Miss Matched
Summary: Tired of Arnold's constant attention, Lila comes clean with him. Perhaps perfection isn't as attractive as it sounds?


  


Everything You Want

A song fic

As made popular by Vertical Horizon

Story by Miss Matched

  


Disclaimer: Characters used without permission,but not without respect. 

  


(An: Momo and Britney, this is for you. :) Next chapter of Flawed hopefully to come out tomorrow.)

  


  


How many lines were on that sheet of notebook paper? Twenty seven, not counting the margins. Three holed. Perforated so she could tear out a page without the "fuzzy ruffles"(as she had once heard them called) making a mess over her desk. Should she count the lines on the paper again? Probably, anything to keep her from turning around. She knew that he was looking at her again, his green eyes bore holes into the back of her head. She sighed, it would have been romantic and cute, had they been together. It would have been oh-so-special, had she like liked him. But they weren't and she didn't, and frankly, she couldn't stand the constant attention.

  


Truth be told, she hated the whispers and the rumors about herself and the boy... It wasn't that she didn't like him, no, he was a great friend. The problem was that Arnold just didn't understand. She only wanted to be his friend. Some people took joy in twisting her words to make it sound like she _could_ like him. They fed him an inkling of hope that he insisted on clinging to for dear life. She cringed as she heard whispering behind her.

  


_Somewhere there's speaking _

_It's already coming in _

_Oh, and it's rising at the back of your mind _

  


It was hard for her to understand why she didn't like him. He was smart, witty, good-natured, and always wanted to help others, even at the expense of himself. He was, well, near perfect in her eyes. She **should** love him. She knew that. He was everything she'd ever dreamed about loving... and yet at the back of her mind, something nagged away. He just lacked that certain oh-so-special something.

Of course, she had thought once that she had cared for him in _that_ way. Someone had written on the wall "Arnold loves Lila", and she had been told that Arnold himself had written it. It had created false emotions inside of her... all she wanted was to be loved! She fell in love with the emotion, not the boy, but luckily discovered that before she damaged their friendship any more.

  


_You never could get it _

_Unless you were fed it _

_Now you're here and you don't know why _

  


She sighed, putting her head in her hands. Lucky for her, the bell rang, signaling recess time. She could feel the set of eyes that had been on her lift away. Slowly she rose from her seat and walked out of the classroom and school, and into the cool autumn air.

  


_But under skinned knees _

_And the skid marks _

_Past the places where you used to learn _

  


Walking briskly across the school yard, eyes trained at her feet, she waited for the inevitable meeting. She had told Arnold that she needed to speak to him. She came to a halt across from the jungle gym, awaiting his arrival. The sound of her breath echoed in her ears as she crossed her fingers and prayed for the right words. 

  


_You howl and listen _

_Listen and wait for the _

_Echoes of angels who won't return._

  


She looked away from her own black, patent leather shoes as a pair of white sneakers approached her. White sneakers, blue jeans, plaid undershirt, blue sweatshirt and finally, a face. She was looking up now into a pair of deep green eyes. "Now or never." She reminded herself, while another voice inside of her softly protested.

  


_He's everything you want _

_He's everything you need _

_He's everything inside of you _

_That you wish you could be _

_He says all the right things _

_At exactly the right time _

_But he means nothing to you _

_And you don't know why..._

  


"Hey, Lila..." Arnold said slowly, shyly. Feeling guilty, Lila's gaze fell down once more to his feet. "Well, um..."

She quickly cut him off, clutching her hands in front of her. "I'm ever so sorry Arnold, but I'm oh so sure I'm tired of the constant attention you give me." her voice faltered, "And I'm oh so certain I've told you time after time that I don't like you, like you. I just like you." She looked back up at his face. Now he was the one looking at the ground.

"This is so _hard_..." she thought to herself. 

  


_You're waiting for someone _

_To put you together _

_You're waiting for someone to push you away_

  


"But," Arnold rebutted, eyes pleading with her, "I always thought that if I'd just-"

Sighing, she had to cut him off once more. "I'm sure there's nothing more you could do. We're friends, Arnold... just friends. Please." 

"But, what if one day, your opinion changes?" he probed.

"Then I'm oh so sure you'll be the first to know. But please, Arnold, don't assume otherwise." She stopped the nervous wringing of her hands, and waited for him to say one more thing. Anything to make this any more bearable for her. 

  


_There's always another _

_Wound to discover _

_There's always something more you wish he'd say _

  


Arnold stood deathly still, his eyes echoing the defeat in his heart. Lila tore her eyes away from the sight, and forced herself to walk away.

  


_He's everything you want _

_He's everything you need _

_He's everything inside of you _

_That you wish you could be _

_He says all the right things _

_At exactly the right time _

_But he means nothing to you _

_And you don't know why_

Seated on a swing, watching this whole situation unfold was the infamous school bully. Her heart pounded in her chest as she heard Lila turn down her beloved for good. Should she go up to him now? Try and comfort him?

"Easy, Helga old girl," she reminded herself, swinging slightly, "Give him a few minutes to collect himself."

  


_But you'll just sit tight _

_And watch it unwind _

_It's only what you're asking for _

_And you'll be just fine _

_With all of your time _

_It's only what you're waiting for..._

  


Lila walked on, ignoring her classmate's gazes. "This will blow over, sooner or later." she reminded herself, "They'll forget... I just hope Arnold can forgive me." Ignoring the fact that the end of recess bell hadn't rang, she walked inside. 

  


_Out of the island _

_Into the highway _

_Past the places where you might have turned _

  


"She's hiding from you, my man." Gerald confirmed. Arnold sighed, he had gone to his best friend for some reassurance, but wasn't finding any. "I think she was being pretty dead serious."

  


_You never did notice _

_But you still hide away _

_The anger of angels who won't return _

"But what did she mean, Gerald?" He asked, "What's wrong about constant attention? I'm only trying to show that I care!"

"And that's the scary part, Arnoldo." A voice from behind him answered.

Gerald sighed, "Helga, can't you see he's not in the mood?"

Poised with hands on her hips, Helga rolled her eyes. "I'm being serious, hair boy. Everyone knows that Arnold's _perfect_. And that scared her. Easy as that."

  


_He's everything you want _

_He's everything you need _

_He's everything inside of you _

_That you wish you could be _

_He says all the right things _

_At exactly the right time _

_But he means nothing to you _

_And you don't know why._

  


"But, hey, " Helga continued, her voice losing it's edge slightly, "You know, eventually you'll probably look back on this and laugh."

"You really think so?" Arnold asked, hopefully. Gerald simply raised an eyebrow.

Helga shrugged, "Why not? Life does go on, you know."

"Some day you'll fall in love with some chick who loves you back." Gerald added, "Until then, moping is kind of pointless."

Finally, Arnold cracked a smile. "Thanks you two."

"Yeah, well, just don't get mushy on me football head." Helga mumbled, walking off. As soon as she knew she was out of ear shot, she swooned.

  


_I am everything you want _

_I am everything you need _

_I am everything inside of you _

_That you wish you could be _

_I say all the right things _

_At exactly the right time _

_But I mean nothing to you _

_And I don't know why _

  


Lila smiled, watching the scene unfold from out the classroom window. Everything was going to be okay. Maybe Arnold would even find himself falling for the one girl who needed him most. Only time could tell. 

As for Lila, she knew she'd find someone someday. It was only a matter of time. Everything was a matter of time. She closed her eyes, and for the first time in a long time, felt free. 

  


_And I don't know _

_Why _

_Why _

  


_And I don't know_

  


  


AN: Ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleasure to announce the 2002 Hey Arnold Fanfiction Awards!!! 

  


Random person: What is she talking about?!

  


Okay, here's the skinny. Below all this information will be a form. You must, and I repeat, **_must_** fill out the form in it's entirity, and email it to miss_matched@hotmail.com

  


Random person: Psshaw. So, what you're saying is that the only people who can vote are the ones who read your stories?

  


Nonsense! I encourage everyone to plug this in their authors notes. No, not my stories, just the contest. Include my email address so they can email their favorites to me. Heck, even post the form and my email address at the bottom of your story. I would appreciate very much!

  


Random person: Can I vote more then once?

  


I would rather you only vote once for every section. Once the ballot comes out, all votes before hand are null and void, and you may vote again.

  


Random person: I love a fanfic that was written prior to 2002. May I please nominate it?

  


Well, only if it has been updated in 2002. Next year, the awards will be only for 2003 stories, and so on and so forth.

  


Random Person: Well, I like a story that's Action/Adventure and Drama, so I wanna submit that for Action/Adventure. Can I submit it for Drama too?

  


Sure can. If it has two genres, then it's eligible for both awards.

  


Random person: Well, what are you gonna do with the winners?

  


Well, first off, I'll have some sort of award for them. It'll depend on the winner... I'm hoping to depict a scene from their story on the award. Second, I'll be writing the award ceremony in fanfiction form. I'll have "snippets" from the nominated stories, and it'll just be cuter than anything.

  


Send those nominations on in, and please, don't review with them! But do review, lol.

  


  


The 2002 Hey Arnold Fanfiction Awards!

  


Best Over All Author: This is the one author that you love the most. You don't just love one or two Hey Arnold stories by them, but all of them.

  


Best General Story: Best story from the "General" section.

  


Best Humor Story: Best story from the "Humor" section.

  


Best Action/Adventure story: Best story from the Action/Adventure section

  


Best Mystery story: Best story from the Mystery section

  


Best Si Fi, Fantasy or Supernatural story: Best story from the Science Fiction or Fantasy or Supernatural (Only 8 stories in this category. Wow, eh?)

  


Best Angst story: Best story from the angst section

  


Best Romance does not exist. Why? Too many stories! 

  


So, we have...

  


Best Gerald/ Phoebe Romance

  


Best Helga/Arnold Romance

  


Best Unlikely Romance (Helga/Gerald, Arnold/Phoebe, Helga/Made up Character, Brainy and Miss Matched (Joking, Joking... :-D) so on and so forth)

  


Best Minor Character Romance: (PeaPod Kid and Nadine, stuff of that sort!)

  


Other Awards...

  


Best Soliloquy: Best story featuring mostly one character talking to his or her self, and revealing their thoughts without addressing a listener. 

  


Saddest Story: Story that made you cry and think at the same time

  


Most Meaningful: A story who's lesson can also be used in real life.

  


Best Short Story: A one shot that left you saying "Woah"

  


Best Song Fic: A story who's song is woven in perfectly with the story.

  


Daydreamer's Award: This one has special meaning to me, so there will be three, yes, three Daydream award winners. These three coveted awards will be given to the stories that you stayed up late at night thinking about. Yes, you may nominate three stories.

  


  


Note: Horror is disqualified because the one story submitted is two words long.

Suspense is disqualified because no stories are from this year.

  


  


Remember, send in your lists to miss_matched@hotmail.com

  


Oh, and review for this story, too?

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  



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